NO MORE SAND PEBBLES:

Last Panay Incident survivor dies at 95 (Ted Morris, 9/05/08, Sierra Vista Herald)

Fon B. Huffman, the last survivor from the international Panay Incident of 1937, died Thursday, his family announced. [...]

The Iowa farm boy who joined the Navy at age 16 was a 24-year-old sailor aboard the USS Panay when it was attacked near Nanking, China, on Dec. 12, 1937, by Imperial Japanese warplanes. In those days, the American gunboat, part of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet, patrolled the lawless Yangtze River inland to protect American interests, such as the embassy, under a treaty with the Chinese.

Huffman received a 1-inch shrapnel wound in his right shoulder in that attack but did not immediately report his injury and would not receive his Purple Heart Medal until 1993. Also during the attack, he gave his life jacket to a U.S. newsman from Universal, who had captured newsreel of the attack.

Huffman also was the last survivor of the Yangtze River Patrol, which comprised other U.S. Navy vessels besides the Panay.

He was one of the last remaining survivors of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet, which was hardly prepared to stand in the way of the Japanese navy as it conquered territories in the Pacific Ocean early in World War II.